...or sometimes you wonder

I was talking the other day about our current situation, that being the "haves" and the "have nots" and the battle that rages between them. It seems that the "haves" feel they earned what they have and should not have it taken from them nor be told to give it away! Strange for me to say, but I agree. The people who earned what they have are entitled to keep it. Though I might ask "Just how much is enough?" (on a side note the Getty and the Vanderbilt families that "made" the money are gone and the heirs are in charge.)
On the other side are the folks who, for what ever reason, chose to work for them with the hopes that if they gave their time and effort to enrich the company they would, in their later years, share in the prosperity of the company's wealth, so we have our two sides.


The workers united saying we will not work for you if you don't support us. The companies went along with this idea, grudgingly, for a while. After all, the more things cost to make the more they would charge, and it worked for a while. 
The bosses on neither side would see nor care what was down the road for their people, they wanted it all now. The "unions" got the wages and benefits for their people and the companies got their profits (from less workers) for their people (the share holders) and there was a truce. Alas after a while the companies sent the jobs to where they could get the biggest bang for the buck (generally off shore) so they could cut their costs. The workers were let go and the first domino fell.
Then other companies, (hospitals, banks and such) said they needed more money "to stay afloat" because of the influx of people who were unemployed and could no longer pay for services.  They turned to the Government.
Anyone could see that this could not end well.
Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding.
Strange thing though, with less workers on the payroll there were less people to buy the "widgets". Sales (deemed profits) started to sag.  With more people off the payroll there were more folks claiming relief and so the welfare costs started to grow. No problem for the companies because that was a government's problem (so far).
Now comes the new dilemma, The Government. When we were talking 13 colonies this was a small problem, but with 50 states and a few hundred million people this becomes a big problem FAST.  We still have the same two sides and they are still arguing about the same things, haves and have nots.  So many jobs are gone from the market because of both job loss - companies folding, and greed- jobs sent away, the government has to do something. Nobody on either side is listening to the other because "it's their fault!" Rep's want more money for their side, after all they earned it, and the Dem's crying out for the displaced because they can't (or maybe won't) get a job.
 It is a no win scenario, see the government has no money either, they gave it all to the companies (and a war or two) to keep them afloat. The only thing they can do is ask the boss for a raise but the boss is US and the rep's  say "no way!" live within your means. So we sit and watch as our country goes in the tank. If we could only go over seas and get some support from our allies! Dang their economy was relying on ours, ours being so strong and all, they are in the tank too.
 Now we have two sides both "right" but both to blame. The companies were entitled to what they earned and so were the workers. The problem is that the economy cannot support them both. 
Had the company shared the windfall from the savings of "off shore labor" and had the unions agreed to a bit more of cost sharing, looking forward to the greater good, With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds,to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations this might not have been that big of a problem.
We had a great nation and we can again have a great nation if we remember that we were

conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal...and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
The problem is that the government has chosen to save the companies rather than the workers, hoping that the companies will share the winnings with the workers alas I for one have never seen this happen, ie:
Levi's sent their manufacturing to Mexico - the cost of a pair of jeans still went up.
Toyota built plants in Mississippi and Alabama - but paid non union wages and benefits and sent the income back "home" to Japan
The concept that we are all in this together seems to be lost, I don't know where it went but we should  find it fast or else...


Maybe it's time to do away with the two party system and go with a one party system where everyone stands on their own merit without the backing of a partisan party.

BOLD PRINT QUOTED FROM Mr. ABRAHAM LINCOLN circa 1863